Principal takes the Fifth in teacher molestation case

A retired Wilmington elementary school principal invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Friday at a court hearing for a former teacher accused of molesting children at the school.

Irene Hinojosa, who stepped down in April 2012 from George De La Torre Elementary, refused to answer even basic questions, such as whether she had served as principal at the school and another related to the school calendar.

"Your honor, I am exercising my Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution," she said.

Long Beach Superior Court Judge Tomson Ong said he understood Hinojosa's reluctance to testify, noting the "vicarious civil and criminal liability for a principal." Prosecutors, however, said they didn't believe Hinojosa was the subject of a criminal investigation.

Prosecutors called Hinojosa to the witness stand during the preliminary hearing for Robert Pimentel, the former teacher accused of molesting 11 children during the 2011-12 school year.

Deputy District Attorney Janis Johnson said the questions were intended to lay the foundation for follow-up questions that would have established whether Hinojosa had previously warned Pimentel about inappropriate touching of students. Johnson had hoped to establish that Hinojosa authored a report in which she said the former teacher was on medication that heightened his sex drive.

Pimentel's attorney said he believes the comments about medication and his client's sex drive in Hinojosa's report were actually her documenting a joke made by the teacher.

"It started out as a joke," defense attorney Joseph Yanny said outside the courtroom. "She was obligated to take down the joke. "

In earlier reports, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said his office determined that Hinojosa knew of misconduct allegations made against Pimentel in 2002 and 2008, but failed to report them to the district.

In court Friday, the prosecution submitted three letters Hinojosa wrote to Pimentel regarding the inappropriate touching of students. In one letter, Hinojosa is said to have admonished him to "keep his hands off students. "

Pimentel and Hinojosa announced their resignations from the LAUSD on the same day.

The preliminary hearing, which will determine whether Pimentel must stand trial, began Thursday. But Friday proved to be the most dramatic day in the case, with Hinojosa's refusal to answer questions and calls for a federal investigation by a lawyer representing five alleged victims.

Attorney John Manly, who represents five of the girls listed as victims in the case and an additional eight girls who claim to have also been abused, said outside court that it's time for the federal government to step in on the grounds that LAUSD's actions may constitute a civil rights violation.

"You have a white man molesting minority children," Manly said. "You need the U.S. Attorney's Office to come in and investigate this district. "

One of Pimentel's accusers, identified in court as Jane Doe No. 7, testified Friday that a classmate told her she could earn $100 for testifying against Pimentel.

Six girls who testified Friday alleged that Pimentel touched them in ways that made them feel "weird" and uncomfortable. They said he touched them on their "things," buttocks and lower back.

However, the testimony didn't include allegations of the type of groping made Thursday, when one victim claimed Pimentel touched her under her clothes.

Additionally, a niece of Pimentel - the 12th accuser in the case - testified Thursday that he guided her hand to his penis. She said her uncle molested her more than a dozen times at his home in Newport Beach and in Rosemead and Covina. The family of Pimentel's niece filed criminal complaints against him, but the Orange County District Attorney's Office declined to pursue charges.

Outside court Friday, Yanny asked, "What have you heard from any of these girls - outside of the niece, and we can deal with that separately - that rises to the level of a crime? "